Story 309/47DX101 Welcome to the story of 309/47DX101 held in September/October 2002. 309/47DX101 story. 11th.Sept 2001 is a date that will go over in history. What happened on this date became the reason for why I, thousands off other servicemen from different nationalities across the globe, were send to Kirghiz and other destinations in Asia and Middeleast, to fight terrorism and restore peace and order in accordance with western believes. Therefore I cant tell all what I saw and went through during my time there. All faces on photos, besides my own are censured. No names on persons or important milllitary installations. No photos which could compromise military security can be published aswell. Neither can I tell anything about what kind off work I perfomed there. On sept.3rd We flew from Denmark to Turkey (see Passport stamp), stayed overnight in Turkey. On sept 4th We flew from Turkey to Mahac (Manas) Kyrgystan (Kirghiz) (see travel order stamp) On sept 5th Shortly after landing, switched on an aircraft HF radio and made a call, signing 309/47DX101. 14AT276, 19DX121, 13MU272, 13DX015, 19DX077, 47DX052, 26AT047 and 1AT689 were the 1st to be logged before I had to QRT. Now I had to wait for a chance to set up the gear I had brought with me. After a couples off late nights talking and sharing liquid off unknown origin I finally had the right persons acceptance to setup antenna and gear in our quarters. I had hoped to use a single element loop, also known as the famous “Bamby” created by 1AT469 Max from the Pugliao IOTA Team. But unfortunately its looks deviated to much from other antennas seen in the area, that I had to settle for a simple ½ lambda horizontal dipole mounted on a 10mtrs high telescopic mast. On 7th sept the first QSO’s were made from my quarters. After just a few QSO’s I quickly discovered that something had happened to the IC720A’s receiver. Even though some stations reported me with a 59+ signal, very few stations were able to deflect the 720A’s S-meter at all. It seemed like the AGC circuit had suffered some kind off failure. This together with the never ending static generated by airconditioning and electricity generators made reception difficult, especially during the first days off activity when pile up’s were strongest. At times it must have sounded like I were more or less death, I do apologize for this. Also having to take care off my job at very unregullar times must have been fustrating for those looking for me, and never finding me active while they were. My quarters were a tent shared by 8 servicemen, working and sleeping at different times. This often also prevented me to be active. DX’ing from lower latitude than Im used to, and being 4 timezones further east from home offcourse turned out to be a lot different from what Im used to home in Denmark. Even I used a very simple antenna, contacts into the C.Pacific region were easily made on a daily basis, contrary to the N.American continent, which turned out to be an impossible task with the Solar Terrrestrial conditions given during my stay here. I cant tell much from the local area, since we very seldom were allowed to leave our base. Kirghiz were a Soviet Rep, after having gained its independence, the countrys infrastructure has been very slowly rebuild. Like in neighbour republics, corruption and organized crime (mafia) activities is a major problem for the countries evoloution. The population suffer under these cirtumstances. Major differences in social standards can be seen within same squaremile. Fight against terrorism, and for western believes continues. I got the chance to play my little part. Im now home in Denmark. Sometimes its healthy to see and feel other worlds and cultures. In difficult times, it will remind me off how privileged we are in the western world. Cuagn from somewhere. Vy 73’s John Back.